Messiaen (perhaps most) famous work, the "Quartet for the End of Time" was written while he was a POW during WWII, thus the strong emotional content in the sounds. Leontyne? Some (including me) think she is th egeratest female singer ever.. Decide for yourself.

The criticism of Rachmaninoff's 1st Symphony sent him into a depression that he was able to overcome with the help of a psychiatrist. The 2nd Symphony is one of the works that came after that breakthrough.